Ryōbu Shirabe
Ryōbu Shirabe (白辺 令法, Shirabe Ryōbu) is a who was born in . However, due to the recent genocide of his species around the world, Ryōbu lived alone for a long period of time, attempting to come into terms with his own abilities while struggling to survive daily. Following some period of time, a Quincy by the name of Xavier came to his rescue, introduced him to a community of Quincy known as Hafen and had given him the resources necessary to both live out his life as a human while protecting those very humans from the supernatural beings that exist across the world. He has been placed in the squadron known as Steigerung as its second-in-command underneath fellow Quincy Hiruko Sayonaki. Appearance Ryōbu, despite his reputation as the second-in-command of Steigerung, is a rather humble-looking individual. Ryōbu is distinguished by his orange hair, though it is a slightly mellow shade. It is short and kept mostly to its own accord, with various strands freely hanging just underneath his eyebrows, the latter being rather thin for a male. In addition, Ryōbu possesses rather large, innocent-looking brown eyes, their shade being akin to a dark gold of sorts. These traits, combined with his somewhat angular facial structure, thin nose and thin lips make him appear rather "cute" to the female members of Hafen, attention Ryōbu doesn't seem to care about. In terms of physique, Ryōbu is seen as quite muscular despite his age. While not over-the-top by any means, due to the training regime that is placed under as a result of his Quincy training, along with the physical activities he conducts outside of Hafen, he is noted to be at the peak of his own physical fitness, being able to engage competently in virtually any confrontation regardless of the numbers. Ryōbu, despite his physical attractiveness, is probably best known for his practical sense of style. He doesn't go out of his way to dress up in order to impress anyone. He is regularly seen in a winter-style school uniform, even in summer. In particular, his winter uniform consists of a light brown jacket with a thin fabric and darker brown edging at the ends of the sleeves and at the zipping area, along with a pair of similarly colored pants and white uwabaki, the latter while he is inside a building. Underneath his jacket he is seen wearing a simple white t-shirt with long sleeves, and is noted to wear a black plaid scarf in winter with a myriad of striped patterns in grey and red. When in casual situations, Ryōbu opts to wearing a simple long-sleeved shirt that is predominantly white, but has dark blue sleeves and lining at the collar. Over this, he wears a long-sleeved jacket with a similar color scheme, normally leaving the collar flared out. Along with these, he wears a simple pair of dark blue jeans and white sneakers. Personality Ryōbu, being a young man, is commonly seen as cheerful with a lack of maturity due to his joyous nature in almost all occasions, even when they are comparatively serious or nerve-wracking for others. This is due to his naturally calm and collected nature, which he has developed as he has lived alongside Xavier (along with other quirks), that make him able to adapt to virtually any situation without fail. Although, given that he is still a teenager, the young man still admits to have several faults that causes others to frown at him. However, as his teacher has told him several times, Ryōbu persists to improve on his own faults and hopes to become an ideal role model for individuals to follow, as evident from his goals to become a politician that changes the world at large. Being an ambitious individual, Ryōbu's habits reflect this significantly. Ryōbu gives complete dedication towards anything he strives towards, whether it be the improvement of his Quincy abilities or even a subject such as environmental management. Due to this, he is noted to be extremely rigid with his own timetable, absolutely despising being late by any margin. Furthermore, he expects others within Hafen to follow a similar belief, causing numerous comical disputes between himself and the other members. Ryōbu, in a sense, epitomizes the belief of "practice makes perfect", demonstrating that in the short number of years he has lived, he has attained far more than others of his age. However, given that he works so ardently for his own goals, Ryōbu has since lost the ability to communicate with others in natural conversation. He finds the entirety of the process rather stagnating because of his ambitions, which cause him to go onto the border of being a workaholic. Being an individual who is completely focused on his goals, Ryōbu's mannerisms aren't exactly as respectful as one might gather from Ryōbu being an elite member of Steigerung. This is most evident within the honorifics, or rather, lack of honorifics he uses on most occasions. When referring to people of a similar age group, Ryōbu has no hesitation in using individual's first names, despite the intimacy in doing so. In stark contrast, Ryōbu appears to very respectful to elders, using the appropriate name and honorifics; albeit, this was drilled into him by his instructor, Ayumi Kiryūin. Within conversation, which is rather rare, Ryōbu appears to speak without thinking, despite his contemplative nature within combat. Consequently, Ryōbu has been seen to speak rather insensitive things about people on a whim that, while Ryōbu gives as constructive criticism, is misinterpreted as an allegation towards the person(s) that Ryōbu is speaking with, leaving him to comically fend for his life. This is especially true with any individuals pursuing a romantic relationship with the young man, which he dismissively ignores, leaving people heartbroken. However, this doesn't appear to correlate with Ryōbu's attitudes towards relationships, but rather, the confusion regarding his own sexual preferences, likely because of his workaholic nature. Nevertheless, Ryōbu also has points in time where he is susceptible to great anger and recklessness. Being a workaholic who believes in fulfilling one's ambitions, he has since gained a very strong sense of morality, believing that the lives of other's should not be compromised or sacrificed as each individual possesses their own goals. Due to this, Ryōbu appears to become very serious in perilous situations, causing him to quickly lose his cool and potentially cause injury to himself or, inadvertently, others. While he has attempted to lessen his wrath, given his youthful nature, this endeavor will take far longer than he desires. While his anger for other people's dreams is a given, something which truthfully causes him to lose all his senses is when someone targets his own beliefs and conviction. In this case, many consider him to be more selfish than not, something not normally associated with a young man of Ryōbu's stature as a Quincy, which causes intrigue to be given to the young man from a wide range of individuals. History Synopsis Equipment Quincy Cross (滅却十字 (クインシー・クロス), kuinshī kurosu; Japanese for "Destruction Cross"): Ryōbu, like most Quincy of his age and training, has been given a Quincy Cross that is shaped in the symbol of the Quincy. However, his is shaped as the Quincy Zeichen. Because of the nature of the Quincy, an amateur Quincy requires the cross as a focal point of the Quincy's ability to absorb reishi and manipulate it. However, given Ryōbu's experience in this due to his training, the Quincy Cross is now used for more complex tasks such as forming his newer spirit weapons; his pair of Kodachi. Furthermore, Ryōbu also uses this as a symbol to identify himself in front of other spiritual beings so that he may avoid unnecessary confrontation. Quincy Jewel (滅却宝珠 (クインシー・ジュエル). kuinshī jueru; Japanese for "Destruction Jewel"): A unique artifact that appears to be crafted from rubies acquired from a remote location within the , thus possessing an extremely high quantity of innate spiritual power as well as the capacity to host the spiritual power of other beings, including Ryōbu's own. Using this crystal as a focal point, Ryōbu can perform grander feats of reishi manipulation, creating weapons of exceptional solidity while expending very little time or energy in their construction. In addition, by using all the energy within this jewel at once, Ryōbu is thought to be able to enter a state of , though Ayumi has decided against testing that theory for the possible repercussions of it. (銀筒, Silver Tubes): Gintō are, as their name suggest, small silver tubes. These silver tubes contained the liquefied reiryoku of their wielder, which enables them to perform various spells that would otherwise require energy expended from within oneself which is both taxing and inefficient within battle. Through the hydrification of one's reiryoku previously, a Quincy may use their ability to manipulate existing and their own reiryoku in order to create various effects. While considered to be the Quincy variation of Kidō, it is remarkably inferior. However, given the speed and utility of the spells, only increased when one is within spiritual realms, they are a potent means of combat nonetheless. Powers and Abilities Keen Intellect: Ryōbu has always shown to be a young man with a remarkably quizzical nature ever since he was a young child. Questioning everything around him, Ryōbu has always managed to surprise his superiors with the way he thinks about the world. Furthermore, given his currently ambitious nature, Ryōbu's determined nature in conjunction with his naturally curious nature have enabled him to be one of the most intelligent students within the learning facilities of Hafen, with the likes of Claude Guimmard being pleasantly surprised at his growth rate. Within battle, Ryōbu is a calculative thinker who attempts to understand his opponent's techniques through his background knowledge and the physical effects of their abilities on the environment at large. Maintaining both distance and his advantage through long-ranged combat, Ryōbu will use the full extent of his analytic skills to decipher an enemy's true potential before employing all the abilities and equipment in his arsenal to overwhelm them or, at the very least, hold them off long enough to call for reinforcements. Albeit, given his rather reckless attitude when angered, this can quickly be discarded for a no-holds barred approach which, more often than not, leaves him severely injured. *'Heightened Growth Rate': Ryōbu, despite his determined attitude playing a part in this, is shown to almost naturally excel at everything he puts his mind to. He has managed to grasp hold of relatively advanced Quincy abilities in a short period of time. Despite his lack of practical experience in using them, the theoretical understanding he possesses enables him to fight advanced combatants of various races for small periods of time quite efficiently. This extends to battle, where he manages to quickly perceive and adapt to abilities that his opponents present to him, although the methods he uses to verify his understanding can be quite dangerous to his being, including a straightforward charge in order to comprehend the full extent of any ability employed against him. However, simply analyzing the ability isn't enough for Ryōbu. He can quickly escalate from simple understanding to putting this same understanding for practical use, making most strategies that rely on repetition annulled. : Ryōbu holds a rather large sum of spiritual energy within his body despite being a with the physical limitations of a living human. If compared to Shinigami, one could estimate that his spiritual power roughly matches that of a Lieutenant with some degree of power. When exerted as , Ryōbu possesses a light green, almost teal aura surrounding his being. This is most evident when he is forging his spirit weapons. In particular, his spiritual power possesses an almost electrical quality to it, sparks being sent in every direction as Ryōbu makes practical use of it. Unique to Ryōbu, when sufficiently angered or steeped in negative emotions, his Quincy Jewel reacts and accordingly influences his spiritual pressure to become a deep crimson in color. He can release a far greater quantity at a given time and the density of it causes even Captain-level opponents to be stunned when they are first exposed to it. In this state, Ryōbu's spiritual pressure is released in consequential pulses, each of which possessing the strength to cause some level of collateral damage to the surrounding environment should he not be stopped. Master Archer: As a Quincy, Ryōbu's primary means of armed combat is through the bow. Due to this fact and his relatively long years of experience because of his training as a young child, Ryōbu has mastered the art of far more than others of his age. When shown in archery clubs, Ryōbu quite seamlessly pulls off hitting the bulls-eye even when he is thought to not be paying any attention. Ryōbu's skill in archery comes from his focus and disciplined persona. When placed in combat, Ryōbu tempers his emotions (for the most part) and is shown to accurately predict his enemy's location and fire only a few arrows to subdue an enemy, reducing the strain on his physical body. He has shown the remarkable skill of arrow ricocheting, made possible through altering the fundamental shape of the arrowheads to be flat, rather than pointed. While this isn't capable of causing any real damage to an enemy, the use of multiple "ricochet arrows" at once to cage in his enemies is a tactic the young Quincy employs quite readily. Overall, Ryōbu's marksmanship and skill within the techniques of archery have enabled him to fight toe-to-toe with the most fearsome of spiritual creatures with an impassive demeanor, at the very least until his stoicism is broken through his youthful inexperience. Expert Swordsman: Ryōbu is an individual whose emotions are reflected within the blade. Rather than have no direction or range through brawling, Ayumi instead taught him the meaning of the sword and making it an extension of one's body and, in turn, its feelings. As such, Ryōbu relies on swordsmanship when the going gets tough, his anger being his driving force behind his swordsmanship for the most part. Due to the nature of his spirit Kodachi, Ryōbu has been taught single and dual-bladed swordsmanship, both of which he uses very effectively within combat. To summarize both styles, one can state that Ryōbu expresses all of his latent emotions through his blade. His movements are taken economically, using long strides to perform powerful lunges and forward slashes to disarm an enemy. This economic movement that governs his fighting style is eventually replaced with a much more mismatched and erratic set of movements that, while wasting his own energy, also make him that much more unpredictable to an opponent. This is commonly expressed as several, near-simultaneous strides of Hirenkyaku around an enemy to perform, what appears to be, brief afterimages of various attacking positions from almost all angles except for above, which then serves as a medium for a powerful overhead attack to finish off an enemy. When wielding two blades, Ryōbu's form of battle appears to be a lot more stationary. He awaits for an enemy before colliding with them in high-speed exchanges, using the advantage of two weapons to exploit an opening that enables a swift, but fatal strike to conclude the battle. Martial Arts Expert: Trivia Quotes Behind the Scenes Category:Male Category:Quincy Category:Hafen Category:Character Category:Original Character Category:Steigerung